Tale of a Fox
by MantaCat
Summary: AU: On the night Mizuki tricks Naruto he learns the secret behind the sneers, but the answer isn't what anyone expected. Now under the watchful eyes of a few caring, if not eccentric teachers, the neglected child will learn what it means to be human. Chapter 3: Naruto's first days with team seven and Kakashi's Ninja Way
1. Enough to Overload Your Brain

**Hello! First, a few quick notes:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I profit from the creation or distribution of this fanfiction.**

**Description: This story sets Naruto as the Kyuubi, rather than his container. I don't intend for this story to be action heavy, nor will there be much romance. Instead, it will focus on Naruto's development as a 'person' and growth as an individual.**

**Warning: This is an AU fic, and as such there will be things that don't fit into, contradict, or otherwise stray from the original. This first chapter is very theory intensive, and is meant to provided the premise of the story, as well as introduce how it will be different from cannon. After this chapter, I expect more plot, characterization and forward motion with any additional explanations provided to a more balanced degree in following chapters.**

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Tale of a Fox

Chapter 1: Enough to overload your brain

Naruto darted through the brush and around the trees until he reached the clearing Mizuki Sensei had described to him. With a final exuberant cry of success, he collapsed to the ground and gave a tug to the string that held the large scroll shut. When it unwond he felt his heart take a dip as he looked at the many unfamiliar characters and long descriptions of the first jutsu on the list. As the first strings of panic began to pull at the edges of his awareness he began searching for anything he could recognize for a jutsu. At the top it read "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" and as he skimmed along the passage all he could really make out about the clones was that they would be solid and that after practicing the jutsu could be activated with a single hand sign. Concluding that the final aim of the jutsu would be to execute it with the single cross hand sign, he settled in for a grueling study session.

o0O0o

Naruto collapsed onto the ground with a satisfied smile moments before Iruka Sensei burst into the clearing. It only took a moment of confusion before Mizuki Sensei jumped onto a branch overlooking the clearing and Iruka realized the betrayal that was taking place. Despite his pleas, Mizuki cackled as he broke one of the greatest taboo of the village.  
"Don't you wish to know? Why it is that all the villagers hate you so much? It is because on the night of the Kyuubi attack twelve years ago the Fourth failed in killing the demon, and instead sealed it away as an infant child. That's right – you are the Nine Tailed Fox!"

Naruto ran. He ran blindly and hid behind one of the many ferns that matted the natural floor of the old growth forest. Through his confusion and tears he heard Iruka Sensei and Mizuki Sensei arguing.

"How could you love that demon?" Mizuki spat, "That same monster that killed your parents?"

"You're right," Iruka's head bowed as if with a heavy wright, "the Kyuubi killed my parents and destroyed the village. But Naruto isn't like that! He's friendly and kind, and loves to eat ramen. He hates to see others hurt and pulls pranks in order to get attention. He's a hard-working, loyal little boy!" Naruto felt his spirits soar, and in that moment there was nothing he wouldn't have done for his scared teacher, but before he could jump out and beat Mizuki with his newfound cloning ability, the traitor spoke up again;

"Ha!" he laughed, "What a joke! Different from the demon? He IS the demon. The Third announced that the Fourth sealed the Kyuubi into a newborn, but I know! I know the truth! My Lord told me! There wasn't a single child born that day or even the two days before in all of Konoha or the surrounding villages! He didn't seal the demon into a child – he sealed it AS a child!"

'_No! No! It's a lie! Say it's a lie, Iruka Sensei!" _Naruto felt sick. He felt like his head would explode and his throat stung with rising bile. Why wasn't Iruka Sensei yelling back? Why wasn't he telling Mizuki Sensei he was wrong? 'Because its true' a small voice whispered and was quickly slammed back with a strong thought of 'No way!' and a fresh uprising of acid from his stomach.

"…Naruto is Naruto," a quiet voice broke through his panic, "I watched as the Kyuubi destroyed the wall and killed the villagers. His eyes were full of hate and violence. Not Naruto. When I look in his eyes I know he isn't the same monster that destroyed my home. He's a twelve year old boy who has faced more hatred than most confront in their life. A confused, scared boy with only thirteen short years of life to shoulder the hate of the village and he's done better than most adults would have in the same situation."

"But he isn't some twelve year old boy, now is he," Mizuki sneered, "He's just a demon who has had is memories and powers sealed. But what happens when he remembers Iruka? What happens when the demon remembers _what _he is? It's only a matter of time before the seal weakens and the demon turns on us again. His first mission gone wrong, he gets angry, he sees blood, what will it be Iruka? What will it be that finally pushes him over the ed-" his voice cut off with a gurgle, but Naruto didn't turn to see if it was Iruka who finished him or if someone else had arrived at the scene; Mizuki's words playing on repeat through his mind. 'how long… how long…'

"Naruto is a prankster," a strained voice said quietly but intensely, "He is a ramen lover, and a gardener, a klutz and an idiot," his voice grew stronger, "but no matter what else he may be, Naruto is my precious student!"

Naruto sobbed and ran out from behind his tree, dropping the scroll of sealing half way to Iruka. The man welcomed him with open arms, smoothing his hair and mumbling softly. He sat there as Naruto cried until his stomach finally gave out and then cried some more.

o0O0o

At some point he must have given in to an exhausted sleep, because when he next became aware, he was lying on the sofa in the Hokage's office. His head was on Iruka's lap and across from him he could see the Third sitting behind his desk reading papers. As he grew more aware he realized that beyond his pounding head someone was running their fingers through his hair. A quick glance up confirmed that it was Iruka Sensei's hand, and when the man noticed Naruto's eyes on him he gave a weary but warm smile. Naruto, not used to this sort of situation, stared blankly at his teacher until he heard a throat clear.

"How are you feeling, Naruto?" the Third's aged voice gently cut through his stupor. Naruto looked over, but wasn't quite ready to leave the bleary comfort of his crying-induced headache or the sleep that followed it. With a smile, the Third stood and walked around his desk until he was sitting on the edge of the couch with Iruka and the boy. He gave Naruto's arm a warm squeeze and then began to rub small circles on his bicep as if he were a small child and the Third had nothing else to do for the rest of the day. Naruto wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, as the sunlight from the window slowly reached across the room and reached the crowded sofa. As the sun warmed him the numbness in his mind slowly melted away, and his memories from the night before came back. Naruto took his time sorting through them, but found he only became more and more confused. What was real? Had Mizuki just been making it up? Had the Third been lying to him and he really was a monster? The old man must have felt him tensing, because he gave Naruto's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, although he didn't remove his hand as he started to speak.

"Iruka-kun told me about what happened with Mizuki yesterday, Naruto. You must be confused, and I'm certain you have many questions you would like to have answered," Naruto gave a numb nod of his head, but couldn't find his voice when he went to speak. "I'll get you a water, and then tell you a story while you drink," he laughed at Naruto's face at being told a story like some baby, "Don't worry," The Third assured him, "the story I'm going to tell you will be entirely true."

And so Naruto ended up sitting under Iruka's arm nursing a cold glass of water while the Third activated the last of his silencing seals and sat behind his desk to begin his tale. Sarutobi had told Naruto many stories as a young child, sitting behind his great wood desk while the small child curled on his sofa. He would never tell the boy, since it wouldn't be appreciated, but the sofa hadn't been added to the room until after Naruto began spending time in the office to avoid the cruelty of the streets and the emptiness of his appartment.

"A very long time ago, as far back as tales of the Sage of Six Paths, there have been stories of the nine tailed beasts. Not much is known of these nine beings; only that they are creatures made entirely of chakura. Some stories claim them to be creatures of no conscious thought, and others demons. What most theorists believe today—what the people who study them believe—" he clarified catching Naruto's confused look, "is that each of the nine bijuu came into existence as the excess chakura came together and gained thought and personality."

"And I'm one of them? I'm the Nine-tails?" Naruto interrupted, worry creeping into his voice.

"Well, I'm getting to that, now aren't I?" the Third gave an exaggerated huff, "Around the time ninja villages came into being, the First Hokage found a way to use his bloodline to seal the bijuu away, into people. For a century these people known as jinchuriki held hack the destructive strength of the bijuu and balanced power between the nations," this was all going over they boy's head, he could just tell. With a sigh he decided it would be best to just go right to the point.

"Twelve years ago, the Kyuubi, for reasons I won't get into at this particular moment, rampaged against Konoha. With only moments to counter attack, many would say that the Fourth had no choice but to try and re-seal the Nine-tails. But Minato loathed the jinchuriki system—er, that means he really hated it—and instead of sealing the Kyuubi into someone, did something no one has ever attempted before.

"While the previous jinchuriki used the last of her strength to hold the Kyuubi at bay, the Fourth used the Shiki fuuin to seal the last of their core chakura into the Kyuubi instead of the Kyuubi into someone."

"I don't get it. Why'd he do that? Wouldn't that just make 'im stronger?"

"Stop interrupting and you might find out," Sarutobi answered dryly, "for reasons we can only guess at, the Kyuubi's chakura is very potent and dark. The Fourth's thinking was, if the Nine-tails is so destructive because his consciousness is a result of accumulated chakura, and the type of chakura he draws in is negative, then if he had chakura that was warm and caring, then he would be, well, nicer I suppose," Sarutobi said with a slight chuckle. Simplifying a genius' theories for a distressed child was not something he felt particularly skilled at.

"So he decided to pump the Kyuubi with his chakura?" Naruto clarified.

"Close, but even the two of them combined wouldn't have enough chakura to simply pump the Kyuubi up till he 'tips the scales' as some might say, so instead the Fourth used very special chakura; the chakura that was his life force and that of the previous jinchuriki. He combined them, and using the last of his strength sealed the Kyuubi's malicious chakura away as well as his memories. He gave the Kyuubi human form and hoped that with this new start to life, he could experience love and friendship. He didn't want the Kyuubi to be a prisoner in a human container where neither was given a choice. I guess you could say he wanted to give the Kyuubi a chance to create bonds and ignite the Will of Fire.

"The previous Jinchuriki shared his vision, and so they each gave him a name," Naruto went still at this. This was the part he had been waiting for. The confirmation that he was the Demon Fox as all the villagers called him. But now he just felt muddled by the longwinded story. He had Iruka Sensei's arm over his shoulder, and the young teacher had said that no matter what else he was, Naruto was and is his precious student. He made eye contact with the Third and the aged Hokage continued, "The previous jinchuriki gave him her family name and her clan symbol: the swirl of the Uzumaki. And the Fourth gave him the name he had wanted to give his first son, entrusting the Nine-tails with his love and dreams. He named him Naruto."

At this point the boy could feel hot tears running down his face and had to open his mouth to breath since his nose was busy dispelling snot. This time however, he remained silent as he cried. All those times he'd cried as a child that he wasn't a demon - wasn't a monster - and he really was.

"So it _is _true, what all the villagers call me. I really am a monster."

"No. You're Uzumaki Naruto," Iruka spoke up for the first time, "that's what you always yell at them; 'Uzumaki Naruto– Future Hokage' and that's who you are."

"But not _what _I am," Naruto pressed, voice rising in a yell, "I'm a monster, not human!" he was getting frustrated. Why did they keep dodging the issue? Big long explanations that didn't have anything to do with what they were getting at, dodging the answer, trying to soften it up, he didn't get it! Before he could jump out from under Iruka's arm, the Third was out from behind his desk and sitting beside him with a restraining hand on his knee.

"That's up to you, Naruto," he spoke in a low tone, "you first must ask yourself what makes someone human, and what makes someone a monster. Then you have to ask yourself what kind of person you want to be. Many villagers, in their fear left over from that night twelve years ago, and in their grief, have called you a monster. Neither Iruka-kun nor I believe you are a monster or a demon. To us, you are just as human as anyone else. But in the end, it has to be you, Naruto, who decides for yourself if your soul is that of a monster, or a human." There was a silence as Naruto seemed deep in thought in his own scrunched-up face sort of way. Sarutobi gave a smile. It looed like his words had reached the boy.

"…Hey Jiji," Naruto asked hesitantly, "If I'm all chakura…" he swallowed, "how do you know I have a soul?" …Or maybe not. For not having an actual physical body, the boy could be really dense sometimes.

"I think you have more to think about than you know what to do with at the moment, Naruto. What do you say we call it a day for the explanations and go out for some ramen?" He could feel Naruto's leg stiffen under his hand and quickly changed tactics, "Or, better yet, why don't I send someone to get us some. My knee has been acting up lately and could use some rest," he smiled when the boy nodded mutely and ruffled his hair. Getting up he disabled the silencing seals and called in his secretary to place orders.

For Naruto, the rest of the evening passed in a blur. He distantly thought that the Old Man was right and his brain overloaded. He'd eaten on autopilot and at some point the Old Man and Iruka Sensei had decided he'd spend the night at the chunin's house. He didn't really remember the trip back, but knew he'd stuck so close to his teacher he could feel the heat off his arm as they walked next to each other. When they got to the house, Iruka offered to sleep on an old futon and give Naruto the bed, and while before, he wouldn't have had any issue with this arrangement, Naruto had been hugged for the first time in memory just the other day by Iruka. After spending his waking hours getting his hair ruffled and under the chunin's arm… leading to the most non-violent physical contact he'd ever felt in his short life, he found himself craving more of the comforting warmth. Naruto wasn't sure how, and he wasn't sure he wanted to remember how, but that night he slept in the bed wrapped protectively under Iruka's arm.

o0O0o

Waking up the next morning, Naruto could feel the warm spot where Iruka had been, but noises and the smell of toast from down the hall told him that the chunin was now in the kitchen. He flushed thinking about how childish he'd acted - being afraid to sleep alone - but then his thoughts turned to the reason for his sudden clingy-ness and he fell solemn. After a few minutes of not getting anywhere, Naruto decided to go to the kitchen and see how much breakfast he could get from Iruka Sensei.

Following a very large breakfast on Naruto's part, Iruka suggested they walk over to the Hokage tower. There was a certain gleam in his eye and twitch to his smile that would have told Naruto he was up to something, but the boy's attention was lost as soon as he realized he'd have to walk through the crowds that accumulate in the market streets during the day in order to reach the Old Man. He didn't understand why the task suddenly seemed so daunting, when he had make the trip almost every other day his entire life, but suddenly, his terror of the villagers from his youngest childhood memories came forward.

Iruka, as if sensing his reluctance to go out, dropped an old baseball cap of his on Naruto's head and grabbed his arm to lead him out. Naruto, not anticipating the move, flinched away from the contact momentarily, before his subconscious caught up that it was Iruka Sensei and he relaxed just long enough to remember why his teacher grabbed him and tense up all over again.

The trip wasn't nearly as painful as Naruto expected. He kept twitching at shadows and jumping at the smallest noise, and kept the hat low over his goggles, which he had placed over his eyes. Despite his protests otherwise, he was grateful for Iruka's hand steadying him.

When they reached the tower, they were directed straight in to see the Sandaime, who smiled when he saw Naruto nearly run into the room with Iruka pulled along behind. Between the baseball cap and the goggles, not much of the boy's face could be seen, but that would be addressed soon enough. He waited until Iruka had wrangled the child into standing quietly at attention in front of his desk before speaking.

"Uzumaki Naruto," he began, letting the full weight of his position into his voice, "Two days ago, under the instruction of Chunin Mizuki you broke into the office of the Hokage and stole the scroll of sealing. You then used this scroll to learn the forbidden jutsu Kage Bunshin." Naruto gulped. "Since you were acting under the orders of a superior, you will not be punished," Sarutobi didn't feel the need to go into the detail of the process for dealing with civilian children (which Naruto technically still was) being used unknowingly by enemy shinobi, "and in acknowledgement for your achievement in learning the technique as set by your instructor," well not really, but the boy didn't need to know the political maneuvering and power plays that were the real cause, "I am proud to award you this Hitai-ate as a symbol of your status as a genin shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato."

Naruto's eyes widened and he stood dumbly as Iruka removed the baseball cap and tied the headband across his forehead. He realized that for the last day and night since his encounter with Mizuki-Sensei he hadn't once thought about what would happen to him from then on. Suddenly he smiled. Some of the drifting feeling he'd been experiencing since the encounter left. He now had something solid to ancher himself to. He had Iruka-Sensei and the Old Man, and now, whatever else may come, the Hokage had given him his future and inadvertently his identity by allowing him his dream.

Grinning, Naruto pulled his goggles down so that they hung around his neck and gave a watery grin to the old man and his teacher.

"Just watch me, Iruka-Sensei, Hokage-jiji, I'll be the greatest Hokage ever!" The Sandaime grinned;

"I look forward to it, Naruto-kun. Return to the academy this Friday for your team assignments. Until then, feel free to train or drop by. I can always use a quick breather from my paperwork," the old man added to which Naruto gave an affirmative nod.

* * *

Moments

Back with Iruka – filling in the blanks

The emotions churning in Iruka's belly were so strong it took him a moment to recognize the dog-faced ANBU that now held up Mizuki's limp form. Looking at the body of his once friend, Iruka continued, unsure for whose benefit he was speaking; "Naruto is a prankster. He is a ramen lover, and a gardener, a klutz and an idiot. But no matter what else he may be, Naruto is my precious student!" Iruka heard a choked sob, then out from behind one of the larger trees he watched a pale, snot-nosed Naruto charge him.

He paid little attention as Dog grabbed the falling scroll before it hit the ground and left with Mizuki's corpse. Instead, he was more focused on the boy who was now wrapped in his arms. With no other emotional outlet the boy was releasing shuddering sobs that wracked his small frame and wailing at a volume that made Iruka glad they were so far into the forest. Soon the sobbing took too large a toll on the small body and Naruto heaved painfully onto the ground and the edge of Iruka's pant leg. The whole while Iruka just sat there muttering nonsense and rubbing circles on his back.

The sun was completely up by the time Naruto hiccupped to a stop and rather than desperation pushing the boy into Iruka's chest it was his weight. With a sigh of relief, the chunin realized the orange boy had finally passed into a fitful sleep. Gathering Naruto into his arms so that his head rested on Iruka's shoulder and the chunin had one arm under his legs and the other across the back of his bright jacket, Iruka gave a nod to the patiently waiting Dog, and together they set off for the Hokage's tower.

Dog led him in through the window, much to Iruka's displeasure, but he nodded when the ANBU elaborated that discretion was best in this situation. Once Iruka was inside and at attention before the Hokage, Dog melted into the shadows.

"Iruka," the powerful man began, "I followed the confrontation between you, Mizuki, and Naruto and I have heard Dog's report. You have been exposed to some extremely classified information."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Iruka began, shifting Naruto's weight on his hip nervously, "Mizuki made some… strong assertions regarding Naruto. I was wondering… of course there is no need for you to, and I wont ever press the issue again if you don't want, and not telling anyone is a given," Iruka cut off his ramble upon noticing the look the Third was giving him and decided to take the plunge, "Sir, is there truth to Mizuki's accusations about Naruto?" He hugged the boy tighter as if to protect him from whatever the old professor responded with. Sarutobi, for his part, studied Iruka intently for several long moments without moving, causing the young man to break out into a sweat. At last he spoke:

"You do not seem particularly surprised by his claim, Iruka-kun. Why is that I wonder? Perhaps you will enlighten an old man."

"Yes, Sir!" Iruka jumped at the sudden request, "its just, there is a Hyuuga in his class, Hokage-sama. After the first time she activated her Byakugan in class, she asked my privately why Naruto looked the same with her Byakugan activated as he did when it wasn't. At the time, I just told her that I didn't know enough about the Byakugan to answer her question and sent her home and she never asked again.

"But I couldn't stop thinking on it. The Byakugan sees through a person's physical body to see their chakura system because the amount of chakura that normally circulates through the individual cells is so small they don't pick up on it and just see the areas where its concentrated. For Naruto to look completely solid, the amount of chakura passing through his entire system would have to be impossibly dense. On top of that, she didn't say that he simply 'looked solid' but that he looked the 'exact same,' meaning that his coloring matched as well," she had been quite embarrassed when trying to delicately explain his close were not included in this, "I don't understand how Naruto's body can be so densely filled with the Kyuubi's chakura without him having access to it, or how he has regular chakura if he is in fact the Kyuubi, but I began to think about it. Eventually I just dropped it, since it isn't my place to know or ask anyway," Iruka finished his explanation with a shrug that could also have passed for a nervous twitch with his one available shoulder, "Whatever he is, Naruto is my precious student."

The Sandaime smiled. "Good. That's what I wanted to hear. Now, Iruka-kun, when Naruto wakes up I imagine he will be quite distressed, and I only want to explain things once, so why don't you take a seat on the settee and when he wakes up I can tell him of his origins."

* * *

**AN: So what do you think? Please review and let me know what you think. Questions are always welcome! I will try and answer them within the context of the story, rather than in Author's Notes at the beginning or the end of chapters, so if you have a question, please give me a few chapters to address it since I may already by in the editing stage of my current one when I receive your message!**


	2. Underdeveloped, Undermined, Underrated

**Hello again! As before, I would like to start off with a few notes:**

**Thank you to the 150 people who visited chapter 1 at the time I am posting this! I never expected so many people to look at my story!**

**Thank you to Tyber Zahn and dayfox96 for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I profit from the creation or distribution of this fanfiction.**

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Tale of a Fox

Chapter 2: Underdeveloped, Undermined, and Underrated

Kakashi arrived at the office a scant fifteen minutes late. Despite what the rumors might say, he knew better than to keep the Hokage waiting too long, even with the most relaxed of summons. A quick stop to the memorial stone to pray that he wasn't being called on for what he thought he was being called on, and Kakashi was on his way.

"Ah, Kakashi, you just missed the crowd," the Third chuckled, "but I suppose that's half the reason you are late. I have a new assignment for you."

"Sandaime-sama," Kakashi interrupted, as the weight in his gut grew heavier, "we've had this conversation every year. Even if you assign me a squad, I'll just send them back. I'm not suited to teach and I have no interest in it either."

"I'm not giving you a choice this time, Kakashi," the Third responded with an edge of steel in his voice, "this is an assignment I'm giving to you as Sandiame Hokage of Konoha. Whether or not this team passes the bell test, you will be training them as their jounin sensei." Kakashi's visible eye widened. It was unheard of for someone to be forced to take on a team that failed their test. Before he could collect his thoughts into a cohesive protest, the Third cut off his sputtering:

"The three I am giving you are Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and one Uzumaki Naruto. This is non-negotiable."

"I can understand the Uchiha," Kakashi tried, "but why the other two? I've never heard of this Haruno Sakura, and there has to be someone more suited to train Naruto?" His statement became a question as the desperation began to creep into his voice.

"As you know, Naruto recently learned the truth about his origins; the entire truth. I know you have been avoiding him due to his relation to Minato, but he is a high priority target, and eventually will have to leave the village to do missions. I need someone who can protect him from threats and subdue him if he… loses himself on a mission. Tenzo is skilled with his mokuton, but not to the extent of the Shodaime, and without a chakura crystal to link him to the boy, he won't be able to do much. Your sharingan, on the other hand, combined with your knowledge of seals, will allow you to protect Naruto from himself.

"You will also train Sasuke on how to use his sharingan once it has awoken as well. Once his eyes have completely developed, you will be training him on how to subdue the Kyuubi's chakura as well. You can't be with him every time he leaves the village on a mission, particularly once he begins moving up in the ranks, but if he and Sasuke become a cohesive unit, you won't have to. Encourage friendship between the two. Sasuke will need to have the power to control Naruto, and Naruto will need to be able to trust Sasuke not to abuse it.

"None of us understand the seal used on Naruto in its entirety, or the impacts it will have on him as he ages. A bijuu cannot be killed, but I have seen Naruto bruise and even bleed. What happens if he receives a killing blow? We won't always be around to run interference if something goes south.

"As for Sakura, she is Kunoichi of the Year, and has a great deal of untapped potential. If anyone will be able to keep up with those two boys, it'll be her," _and she isn't part of a major clan to protest being put on the same team as an untrained jinchuuriki, _the Third added to himself. "She is a bit childish, and comes from a family of low-ranking ninja, but I have faith that she is right for this team."

Kakashi wasn't happy. Despite all the churning emotions he felt mixing up his breakfast, that one was very clear to him. Some of this must have bled into his eye, because after watching him in silence for a moment, the Third rose from behind his desk.

"Follow me," he said, and walked past Kakashi and out the door without a backwards glance. The Sandaime strode down the hall without acknowledging any of the calls from file-ridden chunin, or the monotone inquiry of when he could be expected back from his young, attractive secretary, who by this point had been disillusioned that the God of Shinobi was above mortal vices.

They came out along the balcony, and with a sign of his hand for the ANBU guards to stay behind, the Sandaime leapt across to the nearest roof. Thrown off by the third dismissing his guards and roof hopping rather than walking the streets as had become the norm for him as his body aged, Kakashi followed behind. Without the ANBU, it fell to Kakashi to keep the Hokage safe from ambush or harm, and so he gave an extra push off the next building he landed on to close the gap so between them.

After a minute of jumping across buildings, Kakashi realized where they were headed. Soon their destination came into view: a dilapidated, vacated apartment complex that resembled more of a shack. To the denziens of Konoha on a drunk night it was known as the 'monster's den' as the only one to live there was Naruto.

They entered through the window, and Kakashi took a moment to take in his surroundings, as much out of habit from his life as a shinobi as curiosity for why the Third had brought him to this particular place and without his protection detail. Paint was peeling off the walls along the edges and the doors, and a ripple along the far wall showed him where the supports didn't quite connect like they were supposed to.

Noise from the generator that kept the refrigerator cool with loud clangs and gurgling hums that indicated one or more of the gears weren't aligned quite right. The smell of spoiled food was superseded only by the rank sent of a pre-teen, whose body had only recently begun to truly sweat in significant quantities, and had yet to master the art of applying deodorant (however he also caught that sent to, so at least an attempt was being made).

From his initial glance, he could see clothes thrown haphazardly on the floor and across the backs of chairs. Empty food containers and a carton of bad milk rested on the battered table; showing him where the rest of the bad smells were coming from. His eyebrow twitched as his sharp eye noticed the tail end of a cockroach scampering under some green and orange boxers. An androgynous practice dummy rested in the corner, clearly hand-made, with the only artistic addition being the glaring eyes.

All of this was absorbed in a cursory glance, and soon Kakashi was turning to the Third to see why he was brought to this apartment, without a guard, no less. The Sandaime, however, simply continued moving forward as if he hadn't noticed. He paused momentarily to brush a particularly stubborn… something out from between the grooves of his shoes so that it wouldn't click as he walked, then turned towards the white haired jounin.

"Tell me, Kakashi," be began, slowly forming seals for what Kakashi realized was a silencing jutsu, "what do you see?"

"…It's a mess," Kakashi wasn't sure what the Hokage was trying to get at. "There is spoiled and rotting food, garbage and cloths thrown everywhere. The floor is covered in so much dirt that I don't even feel the need, or desire, to take off my shoes to walk around in here. The furniture and the structure themselves are in disrepair."

"Indeed. Just what you would expect from a young boy living on his own," the Third had finished activating his jutsu, "Particularly an orphan who has been shunned. But not quite what you would expect to see from a demon fox," Kakashi froze, "wouldn't you agree?" At Kakashi's silence, the Hokage continued:

"I honestly don't know what Minato was thinking when he sealed the Kyuubi – even after hearing his reasons – it's a huge security risk and a large unknown, but for now at least, Naruto is just a boy. A scared, neglected child who just had his world come crashing at his feet and can't stand the idea of what he himself might actually be.

"As of now, only four of us have official knowledge of Naruto's status as a bijuu. Of course the Hyuuga have noticed his… discrepancies from the average jinchuuriki, but Hiashi is both intelligent and loyal, and has kept their gossip in check. He needs support now more than ever. I can't order you to like Naruto, and I understand that 'forgiving' the Kyuubi on account that he doesn't remember the past seems a bit much to ask. But that was just what Minato's last wish was; to give the 'Demon Fox' a second chance." At Kakashi's continued silence he gave a wearied sigh; "Team assignments are this Friday at half past noon."

* * *

Naruto's lip jutted a little farther out, but the glare never left his face. The object of his anger stared woodenly back at him, unaffected. Had his mind not been otherwise occupied, he would have realized there was little more reaction he could expect to receive from a door. He had been staring at the door for quite some time. Earlier that night, Iruka had told him in no uncertain terms that he wouldn't let Naruto go home until all his shinobi registration forms were completed and processed. Something about loopholes and keeping him out of trouble while his status in the village was in flux.

He wouldn't tell Iruka-sensei, but he was glad he didn't have to return to his empty apartment just yet. He probably would end up getting himself in trouble just trying to avoid unpleasant thoughts. But after a day painting himself for his identification photo then meeting and playing with the Old Man's grandson Konohamaru, Naruto had confidently declined sleeping together with Iruka-sensei and taken his bed for the night. Now, hours later, Naruto had yet to fall asleep.

Sleeping together with Iruka-sensei wasn't something Naruto had ever experienced before. There wasn't any room to spread out and toss and turn as he was wont to, and he felt constrained and trapped under the chunin's arm. Now that he was alone, however, his thoughts plagued him and he couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned until the blankets wrapped around him like a straight jacket. He threw them off; then shivered in the cool spring air. The light from under the door had gone out only an hour or so after Naruto had gone to bed, leaving the room hazy and uniform in its greyness.

Naruto pulled at the edge of the sheets again and looked out the window. The stars hadn't shifted much since the last time he checked, which he confirmed with a quick glance at the clock. At this rate he wouldn't get any sleep and his last few days off would be wasted. Hugging his knees to his chest, Naruto returned to watching the door. Iruka's room was too big and had shadows in places he wasn't used to. It would be easy enough to climb out of bed, quietly open the door and settle on the sofa next to his academy teacher, but Naruto was twelve now, and possibly a legal adult depending on how quickly his forms were processed, and adults most definitely didn't need to go cuddle with someone in order to fall asleep.

But he didn't need to sleep with Iruka-sensei. He'd just check to see if he was alright. Yes, that would be a good thing to do. He would check to see that Iruka-sensei wasn't sleeping too uncomfortably on the small settee, then crawl back into bed. With that decided, Naruto began to shuffle out from under the blankets. He hesitated only briefly to adjust to the cold feeling seeping through his feet as they landed on the ground, and then made his way for the door. His hand wrapped around the handle then paused. Iruka-sensei was skilled and if he woke up while Naruto was checking on him hi might start to think that Naruto was scared of the dark or something.

Casting around with his eyes, Naruto decided to grab a few props that could be used in a prank. If Iruka woke up when he was checking on him, Naruto could then claim he was setting something up. He'd get in trouble, but trouble would be better than the alternative. From the closet he took a few wire hangers, from the bed he grabbed the lone pillow, and finally the alarm clock and his ninja pouch. He could think of several things he could do with what he'd collected and so, satisfied, returned to the door.

o0O0o

Iruka woke to the creaking of a door. Like most shinobi, he was a light sleeper. Keeping his body still and his breath even, he opened one eye a crack. Through his slit eye he watched as Naruto quietly crept into the room carrying what looked to he a pillow and his cloths hangers and wearing his utility hip pouch. He sighed inwardly, but in truth he was glad Naruto was feeling enough like himself to try pulling a prank. He'd spent the day showing the Hokage's grandson how to set them up in a spare room of the Hokage tower, and making sure he knew how to modify them to make traps for enemy shinobi. Iruka hadn't expected the amount of thought Naruto had put into the practical applications of his most infamous hobby.

Naruto only ever pulled pranks for two reasons, as far as Iruka could tell. When he needed attention, or when he needed a way to relieve stress. Iruka had been worried when Naruto became quiet and shut in, but he'd been pulling one stunt after the other all day yesterday while filling out paperwork and playing with Konohamaru.

Iruka's thoughts turned from his musings to see what Naruto planned to do. If he was going to try and leave the house, Iruka would feign waking up and stop him. Times like these were crucial, and while Iruka wasn't particularly informed about village politics, he knew there were several forces in the works that would like nothing better than to get their hands on the boy. A prank would give them the perfect excuse to try and take him for conditioning or training while his jounin sensei had yet to be officially announced.

He needn't have worried, however, because Naruto stopped once he was standing across from Iruka. He waited for the boy to do something, but Naruto just stood there watching him. At first Iruka thought he was waiting to see if he'd wake up, but when Naruto kept still he grew slightly more concerned. If Naruto wasn't pulling a prank, but brought his gear along, that meant he wanted to use the prank as an excuse for something. Returning to his earlier thoughts on Naruto's pranks, Iruka realized where he'd made his mistake.

He waited for Naruto to shift his weight, and after about fifteen minutes his moment came when the boy switched what foot he was leaning on and one of the bells on the alarm gave a soft chime as it was jostled in his arms against the hangers. Iruka sat up quickly and looked around as if momentarily disoriented before he let his eyes settle on the blond in front of him.

"Naruto!" he began with a stern voice, but smiling inwardly, "What is this? Are you trying to play another one of your pranks? I don't care what practical applications you can think up for my pillow and clothes hangers in your pranks, I need them for sleeping and hanging clothes!" At his lecture, the boy grinned, just a tad too happily to be covered by the sheepish duck of his head or the hand scratching the back of his hair to convince Iruka he hadn't wanted to he caught.

"Haha, looks like you caught me Iruka-sensei…" Naruto trailed off. His expression fell a bit, so before he could say anything more, Iruka moved to phase two of his plan:

"Well I can't just let you off the hook; you may try sneaking out the window next! Since Hokage-sama trusted my to keep you out of trouble, I'm going to have to sleep in the same room to make sure you don't run off." Naruto protested loudly, but there was nothing behind it, and even in the limited light, Iruka could see the relief in his eyes. _Operation: Comfort Naruto without him losing confidence, success! _Iruka thought as he plucked the hangers and alarm clock out of Naruto's arms and walked back towards the bedroom. For now, he dropped the hangers on his dresser before setting the alarm clock on the nightstand. He would put things away in the morning when he was properly awake.

As Iruka did this, Naruto removed his utility pouch and moved to stand beside the bed, shifting his weight between his feet as he waited to see what Iruka had planned. The chuunin walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. Slinging one arm around Naruto's waist, he pulled the boy down so that he was sitting next to him.

"Now I'm tired," Iruka gave Naruto a look that told the blond he was the cause, "So I'm not going to stay up watching you. …Even if you look like you're about to drop yourself," he added after a moment, "so we're both going to sleep here whether you like it of not." With that, he swung his legs onto the bed and pulled Naruto all the way up as well. The blonde's body stiffened at the sudden contact as if expecting something painful to follow, but when nothing happened he relaxed into the hug. Minutes later Iruka felt his breathing slow and deepen and knew his knuckleheaded student had finally fallen asleep.

o0O0o

The next morning, Iruka woke up before Naruto, as he expected, and slipped out of the bed to make some headway on breakfast before the bottomless pit could wake and ransack his kitchen. First he filled a teakettle with water and set it on the stove, then grabbed a piece of bread to toast. Once that got going, he opened the refrigerator for butter, jam, and some milk for Naruto once he got up. He had just finished pouring the milk and was putting his toast on a plate when Naruto stumbled in with bleary eyes and a bad case of bedhead.

Iruka waited to see if Naruto would greet him. When he didn't, the chuunin offered a warm "Good Morning" to which he received an enthusiastic reply, although it looked like the greeting had thrown his favorite pupil off a bit. Iruka remembered when he had to adjust to waking up to an empty house, and supposed Naruto who grew up alone had never learned things like greeting someone in the morning. The blond didn't ask him anything, however, so Iruka let the issue drop. Naruto learned best by observing and doing anyway.

A loaf of bread later, and Naruto was ready for the day. When he first expressed the desire to return to the Hokage tower Iruka wanted to refuse, but remembering that the only people Naruto knew that had the whole truth and accepted him were himself and the aged Hokage, he decided it would be better not to discourage him from seeing anyone. Perhaps they could find something to keep him occupied with for a while.

Naruto rushed to get his things together, and Iruka was relieved to note that now that Naruto had his headband he left the goggles and hat behind. He opened the door and turned to let the blonde past so he could lock up after, but saw Naruto hesitating. He was watching the outside as if he were afraid it would bite him. Which might not have been all that far off, really.

"Come on Naruto," he smiled, "let's see if we can't help Hokage-sama out with anything at the tower. If you work really hard I'll treat you to Ichiraku Ramen for dinner." Naruto gave him a look that said 'I know what you're trying to do' but whatever spell seemed to have held him in place was broken and he ran past Iruka out the door with a wide grin and a wave.

He trailed behind and watched as Naruto darted through the streets. He was short for his age, and immature. It made Iruka wonder if whatever seal was on Naruto was making him develop at a slower rate than average. He had heard that the Uzumaki had extremely long lives, so perhaps this was carried over from his 'mom.' Even for a boy who had yet to hit his growth spurt, or even one who was malnourished, Naruto seemed too young. Naruto, physically could pass as ten, and emotionally… Iruka couldn't quite tell. Naruto liked to act like he was eight years old, worse in some cases, but Iruka had seen his ingenuity with pranks and knew that a good amount of his brash attitude was a front.

His thoughts ruminated on the blonde all the way to the Hokage tower. When they arrived, he asked the Third for some work to keep Naruto occupied with. In the end, Iruka settled down to help the Hokage with sorting mission reports that he had received directly and handed the regional ones to Naruto to be sorted and filed geographically. They set him up on the floor in front of the sofa with a drawer from the file cabinet and a map. Naruto may not have been a dedicated student, but he was a determined worker. What Iruka had been unable to teach Naruto in the classroom they'd just shove in his face under another pretext and eventually he was bound to remember something. His progress was slow, but both the Professor and young teacher had faith the boy would have the basic structure of the elemental nations down by lunch.

Occasionally a team would enter with a report or to receive a special mission, and each time they did Naruto would give a start before settling back down to his task. Around an hour from lunch Naruto finished his stack and lifted the filing drawer back into the cabinet, only letting it wobble for a moment as he lined up the edges so that it would slide in and out properly. With a grunt he pushed the drawer in and dusted off his hands.

"Hey, Hokage-jiji, do you have to do these kinds of things every day? I never knew being Hokage would be so boring!" The Sandaime just laughed:

"How about I let you off a little early then," he suggested, "Some of the training grounds should be open around this time, why don't you help Iruka-kun fill his quota for weekly training?" Iruka gave an indignant sputter at this. He always went above and beyond the minimum training hours for an off-field chunin, and they both knew it.

"Ehhh? You been slacking off, Iruka-sensei?" The blond asked with just a little too much cheek for Iruka to ignore and he began lecturing about the virtues of regular training, all earlier conjecture on Naruto not learning effectively forgotten. The Sandaime quietly chuckled to himself in the background. It was good to see Naruto back to acting like his old self again, no matter how temporary the distraction. Iruka to. He hadn't been sure how the young chunin would react, but he was happy with the outcome. As the two made their way out the door Sarutobi let out a quiet sigh and returned to his paperwork.

Once they were out the office, Iruka sighed and stopped his lecturing. There really wasn't much point to it anyway, since with Naruto it was really in one ear and out the other. He watched as the boy walked right past the receptionist without checking out and called him over to watch. It had been this way coming in as well. For the amount of time Naruto spent with the Third, Iruka was shocked that he was completely oblivious to the standard procedure for meeting with the Hokage.

"When you were a kid, you may have gotten away with just walking into Hokage-sama's office, but that was special treatment, and as a shinobi, that can't be allowed," Iruka explained as he filled in the time sheet, "as a genin, your sensei will most likely sign your team in for you, but if you visit alone, you'll have to fill it out yourself."

"But why?" Naruto questioned him, "What about all the ANBU and jounin that sometimes run in all out of breath? I bet they didn't sign in!" Iruka pinched the bridge of his nose as he turned to leave, and out of the corner of his eye he saw the secretary glaring at the blond child. _So that's how he got away with it, _Iruka thought to himself as he explained:

"The ANBU and other employees keep their own records, but for costumers, signing in provides an early warning system for who they are and what they might want. Its important for the shinobi to sign in whenever possible, "he continued before Naruto could interrupt with the obvious question, "so that signatures can be checked for legitimacy and spies have a harder time getting away with things since the times of visits can be cross-referenced."

When Naruto gave him a clueless look he dumbed it down to "Its so we can make sure no one is pretending to be you to get in and hurt Hokage-sama" with a sigh. Naruto's face cleared almost instantly and he parroted back Iruka's explanation. For a boy his age, his vocabulary was significantly underdeveloped, as well as the way he interacted with Iruka himself. The only way Iruka could think to improve it was to talk to the boy constantly so that he heard new words and have him read more, but Iruka wasn't deluded enough to see Naruto sitting still long enough for Iruka to lecture him, let alone read quietly.

As they moved into the streets, Naruto lowered his head and gravitated closer to Iruka's side. The chunin began looking around for the cause, since the blond had been acting like his old self just that morning, and his eyes lighted on two old ladies hunched nearby and clearly gossiping. It only took a moment to confirm the topic. The ruckus Mizuki had made about Naruto stealing the scroll of sealing seemed to have spread to the civilians, and did nothing to improve their opinions of him. Iruka rested his hand on the knucklehead's shoulder, but kept looking forward. Naruto glanced to the side, and seeing what Iruka was doing, lifted his chin, but refrained from calling out loudly like he might have before the "Mizuki Incident" as Iruka had taken to calling it in his mind.

They moved past the gossiping crones quickly and Iruka switched his rout to take side streets at the next corner. He felt Naruto's shoulder drop as the tension in it was released. With a smile he began to engage Naruto in a discussion on fighting in urban settings, with some success. After years of pranking, Naruto had managed to pick up a few points on avoiding populated areas and minimizing property damage. From there they just worked on applying his skills with traps to combat.

Using step-by-step demonstrations and making Naruto do most of the talking, Iruka saw much greater results than he had in the classroom. He wondered if he could meet Naruto's jounin sensei to explain that Naruto was a physical learner, but doubted it would be appreciated. Hatake Kakashi was known as a genius, and probably wouln't receive being told how to handle his charges very well.

When they reached the training ground – one of the smaller ones with two wooden posts, a small pond, a field and a track around the perimeter – Iruka lead Naruto in jogging a lap before setting down to do stretches. First he had Naruto do the ones learned at the academy, and then he showed him a few more to augment his flexibility in less obvious places.

Once Naruto was properly warmed up, Iruka decided to run him through his basic taijutsu. As his academy instructor, Iruka knew Naruto had poor form, but since his corrections rarely had an impact, he had put it down to Naruto's slow learning curve and left it at that. Now that he knew Mizuki had been a spy with a grudge against they boy, however, he began to wonder if he had been feeding Naruto contradictory information.

"Naruto," he began with a little hesitance. He didn't want to make Naruto think on what might be painful memories, but it was important that he knew, "when Mizuki helped you with your taijutsu, did he tell you to do anything that I told you not to?" Naruto paused mid-kata and scrunched up his face in concentration.

"Umm… I remember he did a few times, but I liked you as a teacher better, so I tried to remember and do things the way you showed me when he wasn't looking. Was he trying to show me wrong?" he asked as a light-bulb seemed to go off in his head, "'cause you two were the only ones who helped me with taijutsu, I wasn't sure who was doing it right and just went with you since you're nicer."

"But I didn't become an academy instructor until after you had been there for a few years, and by then you'd already started on taijutsu…" Iruka fished. Naruto made a face like he'd eaten something unpleasant, before he continued somewhat reluctantly:

"Before my teachers just ignored me like I wasn't even there. The other kids pushed me to the back so I couldn't see, and then my teachers wouldn't help me when they were going around. They never called on me for the sparring either," Naruto's lip jutted out in a pout, but Iruka's mind was elsewhere and he didn't notice. He remembered the advice he had received from Naruto's previous teacher to just ignore the blond, and he also remembered somewhat painfully how he had followed that advice when he first began working at the academy. Naruto's sloppy form made more sense when he looked at it from the perspective that the boy had only really begun his learning when they were moving into the more complicated forms and had been receiving contradictory information on how to do the forms.

"Alright," Iruka pulled himself from his brooding, "We'll start with the very basics and work up from there. Your taijutsu wont be fixed overnight, or even this week, but at least you'll know the right way to practice."

"But Iruka-sensei, I thought I was supposed to be helping you with _your _training," Naruto quipped.

"They say teaching is the best way to learn," Iruka answered off-handedly, "and if your jounin instructor gives permission, I'll keep helping you with the basics until they are up to snuff."

"Why would I need permission? Can't you just keep helping me like you are now?"

"After you get your jounin instructor tomorrow, I'll no longer be your teacher, but your fellow shinobi," Iruka explained, "it will be up to your new sensei to decide if he'd rather work on your taijutsu himself."

Naruto was silent for a moment before he grumbled something suspiciously like 'but I like Iruka-sensei' under his breath and resumed his kata. The chunin chose not to comment, but couldn't hide his smile. Iruka make corrections to Naruto's forms by physically adjusting his stances rather than calling out changes. When it was about time for lunch he called an end to the blonde's practice and gave his hair an affectionate ruffle as they made their way back to Iruka's place. Naruto's previous instructors may have done everything in their power to undermine the boy's growth, but Iruka had the feeling that nothing could hold Naruto back for long, even being the Kyuubi no Youko.

o0O0o

Iruka made a simple lunch. Naruto chatted excitedly about getting his new team, and who in the class he would or wouldn't like to be paired with. Iruka listened amusedly, but refused to divulge who was teamed with whom, despite Naruto's loud insistence. When Naruto said he wished Iruka were still his teacher, the chunin felt the need to put his foot down.

"You're going to get along with your new sensei just fine, Naruto," Iruka rolled his eyes, "besides, they'll be able to teach you much more than I ever could. Lots of cool jutsu." Naruto perked up at the jutsu bit, but then his face dropped:

"But… what if they hate me?" he asked in a small voice, "a lot of people don't like me, and they don't even know the truth…"

Iruka took a minute to compose his thoughts before answering; "I wont tell you who your instructor is – you'll have to wait until tomorrow for that, just like everyone else – but I will tell you this: they know the full truth about you, and have still agreed to be your teacher," he watched as Naruto's head shot up sharply to look at him, "and that he has a reputation in Konoha for never leaving a comrade behind."

After that, Naruto ate quietly and kept his eyes trained on his plate. Iruka wasn't sure what to make of this reaction, so after they had finished eating and cleaning up, made his way back to the training grounds with Naruto in tow.

On the way there, he noticed Naruto absentmindedly catch a stray rubber ball and toss it to the group of kids who had been chasing it. The blonde didn't seem to think much of it, in fact his eyes never brightened from their brooding, but the kids smiled brightly and thanked him before their parents pulled them away to whisper in their ears.

At the training grounds, Iruka set Naruto to practice the leaf sticking exercise. He objected, but Iruka wouldn't budge. If Naruto was concentrating on manipulating his chakra, he wouldn't be able to brood. After about fifteen minutes he let the blonde stop. It wasn't nearly as long as Iruka would have liked to see Naruto maintain the exercise, but he was starting to fidget, and Iruka didn't have the heart to make him sit still much longer.

They spent the next few hours correcting Naruto's taijutsu. It was slow going, but Iruka wanted to make sure that he would remember all the changes for when he practiced alone. Calling the practice to a close, Iruka sited the need to go over a few final things at the academy before the team announcements, and the two set out.

On the streets, many more people were whispering than had been that morning. Iruka was certain that Mizuki had intentionally undermined Naruto's trustworthiness to the shinobi population, and now the civilians had all caught word of it as well. While the Third would have made certain that the ninja population was aware of Mizuki's betrayal, the civilians could conveniently overlook such 'minor' anecdotes. Naruto again gravitated towards his side, but there was little else Iruka felt he could do for the boy. They just had to be patient and wait for the issue to grow old and blow over.

Iruka left Naruto in the training ground behind the academy while he went in to do work. While it was good for a shinobi to be curious, and even a little nosy, Iruka didn't want Naruto getting an early peek at the team assignments or the class roster for the next semester. He wouldn't have a minute of peace if Naruto found out he was teaching Konohamaru. As he worked, he could hear the shouts of numerous Narutos sparring and a proud smile spread across his face.

Iruka finished up a while later, and went out to see what had happened to Naruto. When he saw what the knucklehead was up to, Iruka stopped in the shadow of the building so he wouldn't be seen.

Naruto was squatting down so that he was eye level with a snot-nosed kid, telling exaggerated stories of Konoka's Number One Pranking King. The boy gave a few sniffles, and his eyes were red from crying, and there was no parent within sight. It didn't take Iruka long to figure out what had happened.

Naruto kept going until the last of the sniffles had died out, then quietly asked the kid, who was obviously too young to enter the academy, what his name was and if they knew what parent's names were. After the kid answered, he patiently explained that 'Mom' and 'Dad' were every parent's name, but that they should have their own individual names as well, and if the kid knew them, Naruto would have an easier time tracking them down. The kid didn't know, but before he could brake into a new bout of tears, Naruto reassured them that he was a full-fledged ninja now, and even without knowing he would be able to track them down.

Naruto then asked if the kid to describe his parents, which bore similar fruits as the first question. It was while Naruto was trying to wheedle out the mom's haircut that Iruka heard the first shout. The sound of running feet followed as two sweating civilians made their way to the academy as quickly as they were able.

"Kei-chan!" the woman called as she approached. When the kid heard her voice he turned and ran into her awaiting arms, bursting into tears. The father, or at least who Iruka assumed was the kids father, glowered at Naruto from across his wife's back.

"Its one thing to steal scrolls," he heard the man mutter, and Iruka could tell that Naruto heard as well from the stiffening of his back as the man continued, "but its another thing to steal hapless children," the man's voice raised so that he was certain the blonde would hear; "Stay away from my son, you monster!" After he shouted that, the woman turned and looked at Naruto. Iruka could see when the recognition set in, and she quickly gathered her child closer into her arms and picked him up before turning and hurrying away.

Iruka watched Naruto stand frozen. Perhaps in the past he would have given himself a shake and moved on, but now the words seemed like a trap. Stepping away from the wall, Iruka forced a bright smile onto his face.

"Naruto! There you are! I just finished the last of my work. What do you say we head home and eat some dinner?" Naruto didn't react for a minute, then:

"Hey Iruka-sensei? If I'm made out of chakra… why do I need to eat?"

Iruka stared dumbly, mouth agape, before he walked the rest of the way over to his favorite student and gave him a bonk on the head.

"Now how the hell should I know that?"

o0O0o

Dinner was simple that night. Naruto insisted it would be the last night he spent at Iruka's, and despite his reluctance to leave Naruto to fend for himself, he knew he couldn't coddle him forever. He just had to keep telling himself that Naruto had survived on his own for years, and didn't need Iruka telling him to put his dirty dishes in the sink (although he got the impression that no one had ever told Naruto that's what you were supposed to do with them between eating and washing).

It was the little things, like the proper way to wash dishes, or that you should make your bed after getting up in the morning, that Naruto seemed to have never been taught. He knew to turn off lights when he left the room, unplug appliances when they weren't in use, and other simple ways to save money around the house, but didn't understand it was rude to kick the bathroom door shut, or that he should put his dirty laundry in the hamper even though he didn't intend to wash it right away. Iruka had to explain why it was polite to push your chair in after eating, and how you were supposed to greet someone when entering their house.

These little things – that occurred in places Naruto couldn't observe to learn – people put down to him being a rude person in nature. They were the sorts of things parents nagged about, or that you picked up as a young child from watching your parents interact, and everyone had simply assumed Naruto knew and chose to ignore these social norms. Iruka wondered if Naruto was aware of how crass his speech was, or if he just mimicked the way others spoke to him and thought it was normal.

After finishing the dishes, Naruto decided to practice his kunai throwing. In the house. After a long discussion where Naruto learned why they practiced bladework outside in the academy, Iruka gave him a little help with his aim, then settled down to read a good book and unwind for the night. When he was about ready to drop, Naruto came in, showered, and climbed into bed, followed shortly by Iruka.

As he lay in bed, Iruka reflected on his last day going around with the blonde. Naruto may be underdeveloped both physically and perhaps mentally, he had definitely had both his training and character undermined by spiteful villagers, and he was the dobe of his class, but all those rankings and judgments seemed so superficial to Iruka.

When he saw Naruto lift his head up and look forwards when he heard the villagers gossip. When the blonde cracked a joke to relieve tension, or didn't become hateful when he learned Mizuki sabotaged his education. When he looked after the little kid even though he knew his reward would be more mean looks and cruel words.

That was when Iruka knew that Naruto's spirit and his heart were both severely underrated.

Iruka chuckled to himself as he heard Naruto give a particularly loud snore. He gave the knucklehead's hair an affectionate ruffle before drifting off to sleep himself.

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**Published: 9/14/2013**

**Words: 7,273**

**AN: Thank you for reading this far, and I hope you like my story! I will update about once every two weeks so please keep reading!**

**Questions and comments would be loved! While I am always open to suggestion, I do have an outline for where the story is going. I also don't plan on giving people skills or abilities that they don't have in cannon, although the application, acquisition, and appearance of their abilities are at my discretion.**

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**Thank you!**


	3. To be a Team

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I profit from the creation or distribution of this fanfiction.**

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Tale of a Fox

Chapter 3: To be a Team

After the alarm went off for the second time that morning, Naruto got up, turned it off, and went into the kitchen for some breakfast. Iruka had left a few pieces of toast out for him as well as an empty glass so that he could pour himself some milk. Feeling a great deal more awake after his meal, Naruto adjusted his hitai-ate on his forehead and zipped up his jacket.

The hateful eyes and hushed insults followed him all the way to the academy, and without Iruka-sensei lending his silent support, Naruto drew into himself. By the time he reached the classroom, Naruto's smile had become strained and his jaw was sore. His balled fists were hidden within the bulky pockets of his orange pants.

When he arrived, Naruto was one of the first people there and chose a seat close to the window next to Sasuke. He did this mainly because Sasuke was the only person there who wasn't talking to anyone or sitting at an already full table, but ended up deciding against trying to start a conversation with him anyway. He just wasn't filling up to acting happy right then.

"What the—Why are you here?" he heard Shikamaru's voice ask. He heard Sasuke turn a little in his chair and wondered if he was listening in, but before he could check Shikamaru continued, "Today's meeting is for graduates only." Naruto frowned, but then his smile came back more genuinely. Shikamaru was always as blunt as possible, since he didn't like to waste time or breath on the details.

"I am a graduate," Naruto smirked, "can't you see my headband?" He was fairly certain that Shikamaru wanted to ask more, but knew he couldn't tell the truth and that Shikamaru would know if he were lying to him, so Naruto began to babble. He just needed to bore Shikamaru a little – make the black haired boy think questioning him would be too much trouble – and he would be in the clear.

It only took a minute for Shikamaru to find a way to excuse himself, and then it was quiet again. When Naruto turned to see if Sasuke had been listening in, the Uchiha had returned to looking out the window.

The status quo was broken when Sakura and Ino burst through the door with a combined cry of "GOAL!" They began arguing as they continued walking in until Sakura seemed to notice him. Naruto was about to stand up and wave at her, but then his stomach clenched and he looked back at his arms, which until then he'd been resting his head on. _There's no way Sakura would be waving at me… _he thought, then gave himself a mental shake. There was no way to know unless he asked. With that thought in mind, Naruto turned back towards where the two girls had entered, and was promptly batted to the ground.

A large argument over who got to sit next to Sasuke ensued, and when Naruto pointed out that he had already been sitting next to him, Sakura yelled at him for being annoying. Naruto sighed, but didn't get off of the ground. He'd been right that Sakura wasn't interested in sitting next to him.

The argument escalated into hair pulling and punching in the isle, until Iruka-sensei came in and broke everyone up. Somewhere in there, Naruto found himself sitting next to Sakura, who was between him and Sasuke.

Naruto cheered when Iruka-sensei announced that he'd be on the same squad as Sakura, and his head dropped when he heard that they'd also be with Sasuke. He wanted to know why he got paired with a loser like Sasuke, but the words died on his tongue with an emotion Naruto wasn't sure he knew the name for. Despite the excitement of team placements, he couldn't shake that morning from his mind, and resolved instead to find Iruka-sensei later and ask. That decided, Naruto noticed that he'd stood up and, turning an uncomfortable shade of red, promptly sat again. Iruka gave him a strange look, but then continued on listing the teams, and excused them for lunch.

On the way out, Naruto ran up to Sakura. "Hey! Sakura-chan! Want to eat lunch with me?"

"Why would I ever want to eat lunch with you?" She huffed.

"Well…" He thought it was obvious. Everyone else was eating together after all, "We're on the same team now, so I was thinking—"

"No."

"But—"

"You're annoying. I'm going to go eat lunch with Sasuke-kun."

With that she turned and walked away, leaving Naruto with one arm hanging in the air from his frantic gesticulations. With a sigh, Naruto reentered the academy to find Iruka-sensei and ask why he was teamed with Sasuke.

He found Iruka eating his own lunch in the classroom. When Naruto came in he smiled. "I thought you'd want to see me," he offered as explanation.

"Why'd I get stuck with Sasuke?" he got right to the point, "I mean, anyone else, and it would have been fine, but I can't stand the guy!" Hearing this, Iruka chuckled.

"You wont always like who you have to work with, Naruto. The teams are carefully selected so that you balance each other's skills in whatever field we – the Hokage and your instructors – think you would be best suited in. There are tracking teams, support teams, reconnaissance teams, all kinds of areas to specialize in. For what you say you want to do, becoming Hokage, Sasuke and Sakura are the best suited for working with you and taking on the types of missions you are going to want to do.

"There is also a saying that team seven is always composed of the rookie of the year, the kunoichi of the year, and the dobe, because it almost always works out that way during team placements."

"Team seven?" Naruto asked, "Why always team seven?"

"Team seven is the designated number for the rookie team being trained for what I would describe as large scale, destructive combat. It means you are going to be trained as a front-liner and high-profile combatant." Naruto scrunched his face up to think about what this meant, and missed the sad look in his teacher's eyes.

"Your jounin sensei," Iruka continued, "Was also a member of his generation's Team Seven."

After that, Naruto's attention was lost as he tried imagining what kind of awesome teacher he would have, and he was excited enough by these thoughts that he could push that queasy feeling from before to the back of his mind to go eat his lunch. He gave an energetic wave to Iruka-sensei and began hunting down a bench.

* * *

"You're annoying. I'm going to go eat lunch with Sasuke-kun." Or so she'd said. Sakura had given up after her stomach growled for the fourth time and settled down to eat when she spotted Sasuke in one of the empty classrooms on the second floor. Hurriedly packing up her lunch, Sakura walked as quickly as she could towards the room she'd seen him in.

"Sasuke-kun!" She called once she counted the correct number of doors for windows, "Wont you eat lunch with me?"

"What makes you think I'd eat lunch with you?"

"Well…" Sakura started in her best 'flirting voice' _Ha! Take that! There's no way he'll be able to resist this! _"Now that we're on the same team, I thought that eating together might be a good way to strengthen our teamwork and get to know each other better."

"Hn. In that case, why aren't you looking for Naruto?" had Sakura been paying more attention, she might have noticed that he just wanted her off his back. As it was, however, she gave a huff in response and turned away to hide her 'ugly' expression.

"Naruto's an idiot. And he always just goes and does whatever he feels like, no matter where he is or who he's in front of. Really. If I acted anything like him, my mom would scold me 'till my ears practically fell off or wash my mouth with soap if she ever heard me speaking like he does. He only gets away with it because he doesn't have any parents to tell him otherwise. Really, my parents can be such a pain—"

"Loneliness," Sasuke cut her off, "the amount of pain caused by being alone is on a completely different level than having your parents scold you." He pushed by her to walk out the door first. As he was heading down the hall, Sakura found her voice again:

"What do you mean?"

"Ch. You're annoying."

o0O0o

Sakura was walking back towards the benches to eat her lunch. _I wonder if this is how Naruto felt. Maybe, _she thought, _I should try being just a little bit nicer. _She was pulled from her brooding by the same blonde calling her name, although somewhat hesitantly.

"Naruto?" she looked up and saw him sitting alone on one of the benches, finishing up a cup of instant ramen. _Be nice, be nice, _she chanted to herself, although she really wasn't in the mood for being kind to anyone, let alone the class dobe.

"You haven't eaten yet?" She followed his line of sight to her lunch bin. She didn't want to admit that Sasuke-kun had rejected her, so instead she told the orange idiot that she 'hadn't been able to find him.'

"Oh," came his intelligent response, "well I'd still like to eat with you." Sakura felt her eyebrow start to twitch, but she really was trying to be nice, so she sat on the other end of the bench from him and took out her lunch.

"Hey Sakura-chan?" he broke the silence after a few minutes, "what do you think of me?"

Her immediate, gut response was to tell him he was an annoying idiot, but then her conversation with Sasuke-kun flashed through her mind again, and she swallowed the harsh words with her next bite of food. "Why do you want to know?" She squeezed out after a moment to buy herself some time to find a gentler way to call him obnoxious and stupid.

"Its just…its…" Naruto stopped to rub the back of his head before speaking again, "I recently learned about my… 'parents,' and suddenly I don't know what I'm supposed to think about myself."

Sakura didn't move. She'd expected some kind of loud exclamation or stupid, childish reason. Why would he suddenly bring something like this up to _her _of all people. Surely there was someone else he could ask—suddenly she remembered her conversation with Sasuke, and wondered if he didn't actually have anyone he could ask.

"Well," she fished around for what she wanted to say, "its not like you're a different person just because you know something now that you didn't know before. I mean," she added quickly, "knowledge changes people, it makes you smarter and helps you understand things around you better, but it doesn't change who you are as a person," she finished, giving herself a mental pat on the back.

"But…what if it does, you know? What if you're not who you thought you were?"

Sakura felt her eyebrow starting to twitch again. "If you don't want to listen to what I have to say, then don't bother asking in the first place!" She stood up in order to hit him, but he waved his arms in front of himself and started speaking quickly.

"No, I do! I do! It's just I've got a lot I'm thinking about right now, and I'm not really good at it! Thinking, I mean! No! No, I'm not trying to say that I'm bad at thinking, just that I'm bad at talking and—"

"Ugh. You really are an idiot, you know that?" Sakura sank back into her seat, suddenly feeling very worn out. "You're annoying, loud, rude, have no sense of fashion, you always ask the stupidest questions and make the dumbest faces. You pull pranks on everyone, and made up that perverted jutsu. You're always asking me out and challenging Sasuke-kun…" she was going to just leave it there an let her hands to the heavy lifting for keeping her big forehead off the ground, but then she saw that Naruto was watching her with wide eyes, not saying anything for once.

"You don't listen very well," she added at a more sedate pace, her frustration burned, "you don't know anything about me, but you keep bugging me to go out with you. I think that's what's the most annoying thing about you, but you're also always going on and on about being Hokage, without ever putting any effort into your work. You skipped lectures, messed around during training, and never did the assigned homework. Then you call Sasuke-kun, who always does all the homework and takes class seriously a loser or a jerk." Sakura gave a slight huff and folded her arms across her chest as she finished her tirade.

"…But…" Naruto's voice came out so quietly it sounded like it was from a different person, "how am I supposed to listen and get to know you better if you're just going to lie to me when I ask? I mean—OW!"

Perhaps she shouldn't have hit Naruto if she was trying to be nicer but, Sakura supposed, baby steps were typically the best way to practice doing something difficult. Lunch was almost over, so Sakura made her way back towards the academy. It wouldn't be very professional if she was late for meeting her jounin sensei, after all.

* * *

Naruto glared at the eraser. He had the perfect prank in mind, and he hadn't played any since he painted the Hokage Monument. At the same time, he didn't want to make the jounin dislike him any more than he already did, or make him start disliking him if he didn't. It was a small prank though. Perfect for 'minor offenders' as he counted being nearly three hours late a minor offence. In the end, Sakura stopped him long enough for the man to arrive and lead them to the roof for introductions.

Once they reached the roof the strange, masked man called for introductions, and they learned that his name was Hatake Kakashi. He then called on Naruto to start. A little jittery, he decided to play it safe and talked about ramen. When it got to his dreams, however, Naruto looked at the concrete floor in silence before bringing his head back up and looking Kakashi in the eye.

"My dream; is to become a Hokage to surpass all other Hokages! Past and future! I don't care what people say, I'm going to become Hokage and make them acknowledge me as Uzumaki Naruto-dattebayo!"

The white haired man's eye bore steadily into him. Despite its half-lidded look, Naruto felt as if he were under some sort of test. After what seemed like an eternity, the jounin blinked and turned towards Sakura. "Alright, Pinky, you're up next."

Sakura's introduction made little sense to Naruto, but he got the feeling that when she said she 'hated idiots' she meant him. Sasuke's introduction made even less sense. First he came out and admitted he was a prick, then he said something about restarting his clan – which Naruto was fairly certain was his confession to being a pervert – but all of this was forgotten when he said he planned to kill a certain man. The only person Naruto could think of that Sasuke had ever expressed particularly strong dislike for was, well, him. He really hoped Sasuke didn't mean he wanted to kill him.

In the end, the tree of them were sent home after being told to meet at training grounds seven for survival training at five in the morning without eating any breakfast, and Naruto made his way back towards his apartment.

* * *

Kakashi watched the most recent batch of academy graduates interacting before the start of orientation with the other jounin instructors through the Sandaime's crystal ball. Of his three students, somehow Naruto ended up seeming the most normal. He wasn't quite sure what to make of that. Once the teams were announced, most kids started talking to each other right away, but oddly enough Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto remained quiet. He thought Naruto was about to burst out with something for a moment, but then the boy just quietly returned to his seat. Kakashi wouldn't have thought much of it if he hadn't heard the Sandaime murmur 'still not feeling like himself, I see…' after Iruka picked up on where he'd left off listing teams.

Once all the teams were listed the Samdaime dismissed them with the warning not to be late to pick up their students. After a quick bite to eat on the way over, Kakashi made his way to the academy to observe his soon-to-be pupils. He wasn't too happy with what he found. The Uchiha had hidden himself away in one of the spare rooms on the second floor, most likely trying to avoid the pink-haired girl wandering around calling his name.

He watched as she spotted Sasuke, then left, already knowing the outcome, to go find his final student. It turned out he was speaking with his academy teacher. _Wasn't he the one who recently learned the truth about Naruto…? He's handling it well, _he reflected as he listened to the chunin reassure the supposed 'boy' and send him back out.

He noticed how strained the girl was when she stopped to talk with Naruto. He didn't see it ending well, but then the orange boy surprised both his listeners when he brought up his 'parents'. Kakashi wasn't sure if he meant Minato-sensei and Kushina, or just used the word as a reference to finding out he was actually a nine-tailed fox. He hoped it was the later, because Kakashi didn't want to picture the giant, malevolent fox calling his bright, optimistic teacher 'Daddy' even though he knew Naruto shouldn't be blamed for the attack on the village.

He watched as his comrades came to collect their teams and left to find more comfortable places to sit and talk. Most of them noticed him, but then again he was only trying to stay hidden from the kids. No one said anything either way, assuming that he had finally found a team that caught his interest. It was close enough to the truth that Kakashi didn't bother to correct them.

About fifteen minutes after all the other teams left, Kakashi gave his chakra a small flare. The tan chunin, who remained behind to supervise the three stragglers tensed before smoothing out his shoulders and discreetly leaving the room. When he found where Kakashi was hiding, the jounin gave a small wave.

"Yo. You can go home now. I'll keep them out of trouble," he reassured the younger man.

"I…see," the chunin scratched his nose, drawing attention to the large scar that ran across it, "please don't be too harsh on them, then. Naruto gets fidgety when he's upset." Kakashi translated that to pulling pranks when he was bored. It was good to know, because now he knew until when he would sit back and observe.

The chunin returned to the classroom to wave goodbye to his students, and then it was just the three of them and Kakashi who was tucked away in the eaves that spanned the ceiling. He pulled out his book to settle in for the wait. From what he'd heard, it wouldn't be too terribly long.

o0O0o

The kids didn't talk much to each other. Both Sakura and Naruto attempted to make small talk with the other two, but Sasuke neither responded to nor initiated any discussions. Sakura and Naruto would speak for a few minutes on various topics, mainly Kakashi's tardiness, but eventually Sakura would get frustrated and cut Naruto off in favor of silence. None of this spoke particularly well for their chances with his bell test, but he supposed it didn't really matter if he had to teach them either way.

He was surprised by Naruto's patience. Despite what Kakashi had heard, and how loudly Naruto complained when he spoke with Sakura, his body language told Kakashi that he was the least frustrated. Sure, he paced and his eyes roamed everywhere in the room, but his face wasn't as pinched as Sasuke's or Sakura's and his shoulders weren't tensed. He was bored, but not in the same way as the other two, who were becoming increasingly angry.

"Its been over two hours!" Kakashi heard the blonde whine in another effort to get Sakura talking again.

"Maybe," Unlike before, however, Sakura seemed to have snapped, her voice taking on a rougher tone; "he saw that obnoxious orange jumpsuit and decided to petition Hokage-sama for a different team!" Kakashi couldn't believe that she snapped before the blonde. His visible eye widened even more when it shifted to see Naruto's reaction.

The blonde recoiled as if he'd been hit. Sakura had already turned away from him, but Sasuke looked over when Naruto failed to give a bad comeback. Soon he returned to his brooding, this time with a sullen Naruto a few rows behind him. _This can't end well, _Kakashi thought to himself for the second time that day as he watched Naruto grow increasingly more agitated. He began complaining again about Kakashi being late, but fortunately this time Sakura didn't snap at him.

It was just about the time Kakashi normally arrived to things that the last Naruto's patience ran out and he began to set up a simple prank. Sakura chastised him, but her heart wasn't in it, and Kakashi wondered if she secretly enjoyed watching Naruto's pranks unfold. His initial plan had been to let himself be caught in Naruto's prank so long as it was harmless, and then frighten the kids by telling them that he hated them. It was practically a tradition of his to find a reason to tell his would-be students he hated them on the first day, but Kakashi remembered the reason Naruto's patience had whittled away so quickly after nearly three hours, and walked in while the blonde was still arguing with his teammates.

On the roof, Kakashi listened in disbelief while Naruto extoled the virtues of ramen. Sure, he'd seen a few empty instant-ramen containers around the blonde's apartment, but this was on an entirely different level. Of everything he'd expected of a demon fox trapped in a human form, Kakashi had never anticipated this hyperactive obsession with 100-ryo noodles.

What caused him even greater pause was when that same knucklehead looked him in the eye and told him he would become the greatest of all Hokage. Kakashi felt a shock run through him when he heard Kushina's verbal tick in Naruto's voice as if it had been there all his life. He was watching him with Minato-sensei's eyes and speaking to him with Kushina's voice.

Unable to take any more, he turned to the girl. With his thoughts gone awry, he couldn't remember her name, and simply called her the first thing that came to mind. "Alright, Pinky," he drawled, "you're up next." Her self-introduction was much more typical of the young girls he'd tested over the years, although it didn't alleviate his exasperation in the slightest as he listened to her. The Uchiha introduced himself how Kakashi anticipated as well.

After ensuring that they were sufficiently intimidated for their 'survival training', Kakashi gave a short wave and used shunshin to observe the three from a distance. As had been the case with lunch, the three split up right away. With a small amount of trepidation, Kakashi set off after the blonde.

At first Naruto made his way steadily towards his apartment. He walked with tensed shoulders and didn't look to either side. His arms seemed to be held protectively against his sides, but when Kakashi moved to observe him from in front, he had a wide grin on his face and his hands seemed to be tucked carelessly into his pockets. Had Kakashi not been watching him carefully from behind, Naruto wouldn't have drawn his eye in the crowd if they had simply passed each other. That was assuming of course, that the large pocket of empty street that surrounded the blonde didn't tip him off.

Once Naruto was cleared of the main streets weaving through central Konoha, he took off. Kakashi followed as the blonde dodged through side streets and alleys until he reached the run-down apartments that continued along until they hit the west wall of the village. Naruto ran all the way to his apartment, and didn't stop until his door was slammed shut behind him.

Once inside, the small blonde took a few deep breaths while leaning against the door. Kakashi watched as he began to boil some water and pull out a cup of noodles. Once the water was boiling, Naruto poured it onto his noodles, and three minutes later he was eating.

Once his meal was complete, Naruto sat watching the front door. A few minutes later, his attention shifted to the window, causing Kakashi to duck out of view until the blonde's attention shifted back to the closed door. With a heavy sigh, Naruto slumped out of his chair and began running through a few of the basic academy katas. As he watched, Kakashi tried to separate 'Naruto' from the Kyuubi no Youko. For now, Naruto seemed like a clumsy, clueless kid with poor form, but even the Third didn't understand the entirety of what Minato-sensei did to the fox, and Kakashi felt a weight in his stomach when he tried mentally listing the things Naruto could improve on.

Once Naruto finished drilling his taijutsu, he began target practice with a makeshift dummy he'd strung up against one of the walls. Again Kakashi tried to watch from an objective angle. When Naruto missed the dummy by a wider margin than the others and added some extra ventilation to his walls he swore loudly and began cleaning up his supplies. For the second time that night, Kakashi caught him glaring at the door.

_Does he want to go out? _He wondered. If so, what could there be holding him back? Once Naruto had gathered everything, he began packing his tools into a standard shinobi thigh holster. After some deliberation, Naruto turned, slid open the window, and began climbing out. Kakashi shifted so that the shadows from the next building over cloaked him as he pressed closer to the wall he was leaning on before jumping onto the roof to trail the blonde from above.

Naruto began dodging through the streets of the residential district, and Kakashi realized he was heading towards the training grounds. It seemed a little late for the hour Kakashi would be requiring him to get up for survival training, but then again, he'd heard that Naruto's physique wasn't a perfect imitation of a human's either, so he'd hold off judgment.

The streets weren't too crowded, and as he moved farther from Konoha, the population thinned even more. It was as Naruto was passing a small park for local children that Kakashi heard it – the small mewl of a young cat that had climbed too far up a tree. He was about to head towards it and let it down in memory of his late teammate, when he saw Naruto pause and listen. After searching the branches with his eyes, he spotted the cat and began climbing after it.

Kakashi watched as the blonde bodily climbed the trunk of the tree until he reached the lower branches to pull himself up. He could hear him call to the cat in what Kakashi assumed was meant to be a comforting voice as Naruto drew closer. When Naruto reached the cat, there was a small scuffle in which the blonde wrapped his jacket around the cat and tied it to his stomach with ninja wire. His decent went much faster, as Naruto could easily jump down.

Once he was settled on the ground, Naruto checked the tags on the collar and set out in a new direction. Only a few blocks out from the park, he veered towards one of the houses and rasped on the door. Moments later an elderly lady answered, and seeing who was calling, and what he carried, promptly began to shout. Naruto dropped the cat and began running when she took a feeble swipe at him. He kept his head down as he raced along the road, doors opening and blinds pulled down as neighbors rushed to see the assailant and pick up the latest gossip. The old ladies cries of '_Thief! Demon!_' and whispers of a '_That kid' _followed Naruto down the block.

Kakashi followed silently, and as he left, he passed an ANBU who had been alerted by the noise and come to check the area.

Naruto didn't slow down until he reached the training fields. He ran until he was on the far side of the clearing, then collapsed in on himself. Kakashi could hear the rattle in one last drawn-out breath before Naruto pushed himself up from his squat and faced the field. Making a single hand sign, the blonde cried out the name of his jutsu, and nearly fifty copies of himself appeared. Naruto pointed to one and began to speak:

"You!" he declared, "you're going to be Kakashi-sensei!" Kakashi felt his eye widen, then watched as the indicated clone transformed into a near-identical image of the jounin. With little prompting, the original Naruto and his remaining clones set upon the Kakashi look-alike. Almost instantly, the clone dispersed from the damage. Kakashi wasn't sure what to make of this, so he kept watching. After scratching his head, Naruto pointed to another clone and repeated the process. After about ten cycles, Kakashi was questioning Naruto's mental stability. Apparently Naruto was as well, because one of the clones spoke up:

"Argh! This is pointless!" the clone threw himself onto his back and looked up at the stars, "We don't even know if we'll have to fight Kakashi-sensei anyway! And this training method sucks. None of us last long enough to fight back."

"Even if we don't, what's the point of making physical clones if we just get in the bosses way," a calmer clone reasoned, "we need some combo moves," he finished with a nod.

"What about Sakura-chan and the Te—Sasuke?" Kakashi wondered what Naruto had been about to change, or why he suddenly drew more somber at the mention of the last Uchiha.

"Yeah," another agreed, "how're we going to work them into it?" the fourty-odd Narutos all grabbed their chins in contemplation.

"Well Sakura-chan is really smart, and she's got the basics down really well…"

"…But she isn't good at coming up with things on the spot. That's how Ino beats her when they spar—she uses whatever new move she's learned from her dad and Sakura doesn't have time to figure out how to get around it…"

"…So then we need to by her time to watch Kakashi-sensei and figure out how to beat him," another clone concluded. The field was silent for a minute.

"What about a Clone Wave?" one asked, "Boss makes so many clones he can't dodge or block all of them. That way, Sakura-chan can get back and he'll have to pull out some big move!"

"Yeah!" the remaining clones and the original agreed.

"And—And—Boss can make a whole bunch and have them all use Orioke no Jutsu! It worked on Hokage-jiji with just one; imagine what would happen if we surround him an all used it at the same time!" The speculation continued with each idea more ridiculous than the last. Kakashi had to admit, though, he would have never thought of using Kage Bunshin as a brainstorming technique. When there was a lull in the conversion one of the clones brought up how Naruto intended to integrate Sasuke into his tactics. The clearing fell silent.

"Isn't it a waste of time? It's not like the Te-Sasuke—" there it was again "—will just up and agree to work with us anyway. The only reason he ever passed the group assignments was 'cause he could do all the work himself anyway."

"Yeah, but we're a team now. We _have_ to work together!" another insisted, "What if he was caught in the middle of a Clone Wave and Kakashi-sensei used a jutsu to take us out in one go? We'd just dispel, but who knows how much damage a Jounin can do? We may not like him, but its not like we want him dead either…" Silence fell again.

"…Sasuke is really good with shuriken and probably could hold his own against Kakashi-sensei for at least a while if the guy isn't trying to actually hurt us…" one clone dug the toe of his sandal into the ground.

"So…" at this point Kakashi had given up pinpointing the individual clones speaking out, "…what if we tried this? We distract Kakashi-sensei in the beginning so Sakura-chan can come up with a plan. When we all get dispelled or the Boss is getting tired we switch with the T-Sasuke. While he holds off Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan fills us in on the plan and we set up traps or whatever we need, then all lure him in."

_That… could actually work _Kakashi admitted to himself. It would depend on several factors, including assumptions on his skill level and readiness to harm them, but it was flexible enough they could pull it off. Many teams with a strategist approached unknown situations in a similar matter, however the more cohesive teams didn't need to switch out who distracted the opponent to fill everyone else in. _But will it hold up under pressure? _Kakashi asked himself. He already planned to be late, so they would have plenty of time to discuss and refine Naruto's strategies.

Having seen enough, Kakashi turned and began to make his way home for the night. He had an early morning after all. Naruto hadn't been at all what he'd expected, but the little things kept him skeptical. He'd have to subtly probe the blonde for his answers.

o0O0o

Sunrise found Kakashi in a tree watching three dreary genin-hopefuls. A few times he thought Naruto would bring up his strategy ideas – he would start to fidget and stutter a few times – but he always fell silent at the glares from his teammates. Eventually Sasuke was the only one left awake.

After an hour, Kakashi had a good feel of the group's dynamics, but he decided to hold off on making his appearance. Pulling out Icha-Icha Paradise he settled a little farther into his branch. When the time came for his dramatic entrance, Sakura yelled 'You're LATE!' as if he hadn't noticed and he played along. The three listened on baited breath as he explained the test. He thought the blonde might jump the gun when he was poked at, but in the end Kakashi called 'Start' without any issues.

Sakura and Sasuke immediately jumped into the foliage to hide, but Naruto remained front and center. _Does he intend to start his plan without having discussed it with anyone? _Once again Kakashi couldn't see this ending well. It was starting to look like a trend. Deciding it was safe to push Naruto, Kakashi pulled out his book and began carefully taunting fox-turned-human.

Once he'd seen enough and demonstrated a bit of his skills for the watching Sasuke and Sakura, Kakashi decided to take the edge off his taunts – he knew for a fact he'd have to deal with Naruto in the future – by pulling the shinobi variation of Kancho. He thought it went incredibly well when he achieved the correct trajectory to send the blonde into the river. He reluctantly acknowledged Naruto surprised him coming out of the river afterwards, particularly when he proved not to be mixed in with his clones as he had in their spar and practice the night before. He decided to leave it and go harass the other two, who despite the amount of time Naruto bought them failed to meet up or prepare any traps.

He found Naruto with Sakura, given away by the volume of his voice and flashy gesticulations.

"…He was giggling and reading _porn,_" he heard Naruto's explanation and Sakura's gasp. He supposed she'd been too far away to make out the cover, "and then he gave me this funny look and stuck his fingers up my butt!" _That…doesn't sound right, _Kakashi felt a drop of sweat run down his temple despite the lack of physical exertion or heat. Hadn't any of his classmates ever pranked him before?

"What!?" Sakura yelled. If he hadn't already known her position, she'd just broadcasted it to the whole forest. Sakura herself was feeling a great deal more sympathy for the blond than she'd ever experienced before. As a kunoishi-hopeful she'd been warned about the potential things that could happen to a female on a mission, as well as certain types of missions for under-cover kunoichi, and had developed a healthy loathing for perverts.

Kakashi watched Sakura transform from a competitor to a woman filled with righteous fury. He felt a shiver run down his spine that any self-respecting ninja would feel after triggering a kunoichi's pervert radar_. Does she even remember the original purpose of the test? _Kakashi felt himself swallow. In another corner of his mind, Kakashi wondered if Naruto planned for this.

Sasuke, meanwhile, was preoccupied with the idea of the Dobe being able to make solid clones. Where had this sudden skill come from? Why couldn't Naruto make basic clones if he could easily handle more advanced? Had Naruto been holding out during his time as an academy student? His taijutsu form was also better than it had been for the graduation test, albeit by a much thinner margin. Sasuke realized he'd snapped the thin branch he'd been holding onto in order to maintain a clear but concealed view of the river where Kakashi and the Dobe fought. He could hear Sakura in the distance, which meant Kakashi could as well. Turning, Sasuke began looping around the trees behind the training area. With any luck, Kakashi would be overconfident and attack them from the front, allowing Sasuke to observe and intervene at the opportune time to snatch a bell.

Kakashi noticed Sasuke's chakra signature moving in his direction and adjusted his position to intercept the Uchiha. Pulling out his book he faked the same lazy attitude he had with Naruto. As expected, the rookie of the year put on a good performance, but going it alone against a jounin, let alone a candidate for Godaime Hokage, was a fruitless effort. So this was the boy he would be expected to train in the use of the Sharingan. The boy who would be entrusted with the suppression of the Kyuubi and expected to work intrinsically with him in his human form. Kakashi put his book away. Could this power-hungry, self-declared avenger honestly be trusted with the handling of the most powerful bijuu? He couldn't even work with a team. With a sigh, Kakashi initiated the Headhunter Jutsu. He'd seen enough of the last Uchiha.

Kakashi had one lesson left: Genjutsu. Normally, he would use this independently on the final teammate, but with Naruto and Sakura working together, he decided to wait and see what would happen. There were nearly two hours left until noon after all. He could use his genjutsu later.

It was another half hour before the two colorful genin found their third teammate, and good fifteen minutes after that for them to dig him out. Kakashi made a note to himself to include chakra control and practical usage in Sakura and Sasuke's training, before forcibly adding Naruto to that list as well. He'd promised the Third he would try and be objective, if not because its moral because Minato-sensei would have wanted him to be.

While they were digging him out, Naruto made good use of Sasuke's captivity to explain the plan Sakura had come up with. It took fifteen minutes more than that to convince Sasuke to follow it. _One hour to go, _Kakashi mentally tallied. The genin were looking a bit peckish in his opinion.

The three were wandering around the forest together, and Kakashi took the opportunity to cast his genjutsu. As expected, the Uchiha was the first to break free from it, only to be charged by twenty-five identical blondes calling out 'You're going DOWN Kakashi-sensei!' When the remaining time was again cut in half and both Nartuo and Sakura – who had broken free of the genjutsu after around five minutes – were free of the illusion, Sasuke and Sakura set out to find him, leaving a thoroughly bruised and scolded Naruto behind to find his own bell. Kakashi sent a clone to keep the two top students occupied while he studied the Dobe.

Kakashi was surprised to notice Naruto was trembling, and apparently the blonde was as well, because he held his hands in front of him to watch the tremors as if he couldn't understand why he had them. Letting out a frustrated growl, Naruto punched the ground. Then he punched it a second time and a third. He kept this up with a steady stream of curses, which slowly dissolved into him repeating, over and over, "I hate genjutsu!" eventually, Naruto stopped punching the ground and hugged his knees into his chest.

In a voice so quiet Kakashi had to strain to hear, Naruto murmured, "What's so scary about genjutsu anyway…" _Scary? _Kakashi mused; all his illusion did was superimpose his own image on top of his teammates, _some kind of past trauma? There wasn't any in his records… _his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his alarm going off and Kakashi made his way back towards the clearing with three stumps.

In the end, he tied Naruto to the post for losing his composure on the field, and after explaining the importance of teamwork backed off to see what would happen. Naruto remained withdrawn while the others began to eat. His stomach protested loudly, and Sakura began sneaking glances at him out of the corner of her eye. After several more gastric protests, Sasuke offered the supposed 'boy' some food, and Sakura quickly followed his lead. Using the shunshin to appear before the three, Kakashi announced their acceptance into the ranks of ninja. Turning to the stone memorial, Kakashi lost himself to memory as he began to explain what it was.

"…The Names of heroes of Konoha are all carved into this stone—"

"I'm going to get my name carved on that stone to!" Naruto interjected. His voice was as immature as ever, but he had a determined glint in his eye.

"—But these aren't just any heroes," Kakashi cut him off with a glare. Many of the names eternalized on the stone were there due to the Kyuubi attack twelve years prior; "They are the ones who died in the line of duty. The names of my teammates and my Sensei are all carved into this stone." The three genin fell silent. Then, in quiet, subdued tones, Naruto spoke:

"I don't know if its possible for me… but I think I'd still like to get my name there someday." Kakashi turned to him dumbfounded, but Naruto wasn't paying attention to those around him any longer. His eyes were hooded and his thoughts had turned inward.

"I mean," Naruto continued, "I would hate it if Iruka-sensei or the Old Man were killed by someone, but I'd rather die protecting them than in the hospital from some disease or something," Naruto scuffed one of his shoes on the ground, "I think I would die happy if I knew they were safe…" Naruto's voice trailed off into a whisper, and Kakashi wondered if Sasuke and Sakura had even been able to catch it all despite their proximity.

Kakashi didn't know how to respond. It probably was impossible for Naruto to get his name on the stone, if not because he was actually the cursed Nine-tailed Fox, then because Kakashi seriously doubted Naruto could ever die. For an immortal being made of chakra who never fell ill, it seemed like a very strange thing to say. _Iruka and the 'Old Man,' hm, _Kakashi turned his attention back to his new team in time to watch Sakura smack Naruto on the back of his head. With a sigh, he dismissed the team for the rest of the day. Sasuke and Sakura both quickly took their leave, and Kakashi was about to follow when he decided to break from tradition. With a flick of his wrist, he sent a kunai flying and cut Naruto free of his bonds.

Naruto stepped away from the post and Kakashi noticed that his head was still angled down so that his eyes were obstructed from view.

"…I think," Kakashi heard Naruto's voice carried on the wind, "that I would much rather die than watch my important people's names be carved into that stone…"

"…Indeed." Kakashi didn't know what made him respond, and the sudden jerk of Naruto's head proved that he hadn't been meant to overhear that comment, but he pushed forward regardless. "Many of the Shinobi of Konoha feel that way. Makes us a bit hypocritical, don't you think?" Kakashi had already turned to go when Naruto spoke;

"Kakashi-sensei? The Old Man said that you… knew about me. Do you—I mean—I was just wondering…" Kakashi heard him take a deep breath. His head came up, and in a lighter, resigned tone Naruto asked, "I know I'm behind in a lot of areas, but Iruka-sensei said that if you give me permission he'll help me catch up on the basics for taijutsu."

Kakashi smiled and felt his eye crinkle shut a bit. "Sure. That would be a great help to me. For now, most of our work will finish up in the afternoon, so you'll have your evenings free to work on taijutsu."

"…Thanks, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto scratched the back of his head, "I'll see you tomorrow, then." Kakashi gave a nod in acknowledgement before returning to the trees via Shunshin. It was only noon after all, and he still wasn't sure what to make of the blond.

He trailed Naruto to meet the chunin Iruka, where the Dobe received hearty congratulations for passing and a more substantial meal via the local ramen stand. Kakashi debated simply heading out and training himself, but decided to wait out the day. He wasn't oblivious enough to feign ignorance of the bitter twist in his stomach when he watched Naruto smile, and was convinced he could properly conceal any negative emotions if he knew clearly what to expect from the loud blonde.

After parting with Iruka, Naruto made his way through the outskirts of town until he reached one of the hillier regions. From there he trekked up a small hill to a twenty-four hour convenience store and emerged with several bags of instant ramen, milk, and a few other general things Kakashi could determine through the thin walls of the plastic bags. It seemed like a great inconvenience to shop at this particular corner-store when Naruto had passed many others along the way, and would pass just as many more returning to his apartment.

Kakashi received his answer to this particular puzzle when Naruto walked too close to a shop entrance. The owner began shouting and soon the blonde was on the ground with a ripped grocery bag and an earful on the consequences of stealing. A ramen cup rolled by his hand and the blonde quickly snatched it up. Giving an unseeing glance around the street, Naruto then grabbed the milk carton by his left foot, and holding it upside down to staunch the flow of milk from one of the dented corners on the bottom, rose to his feet. For a moment Kakashi expected an explosive argument to ensue, as had been the norm in the past according to reports, but then a particularly loud cry of 'Demon!' carried past the whispering crowd. Naruto flinched, then looking at the offending shop-keeper one final time, took off down the street. His pace didn't let up until the apartment door was soundly locked, the single cup of instant ramen placed with the others in the cupboard, and the milk leaning haphazardly against the fridge's back wall.

Kakashi watched as the blonde sank against the kitchen wall before deciding to leave. He would return again that night to see if the fox-turned-human would go out a second time.

o0O0o

That night Kakashi returned to find Naruto sprawled across his bed. The jounin primed himself to spring back onto the roof and head home, but froze when he heard a loud groan. Looking back, Naruto was rolling about with a furrowed brow. A nightmare then. It served the fox right that he should be haunted in his sleep, considering how many sleepless nights the citizens suffered following his attack. _…Wait! _Kakashi mentally dug his heels in, _shit. I thought I was past that. Sensei would be disappointed. _But the feeling left after he had turned away from the whimpering blonde couldn't be identified as regret.

The next morning Kakashi returned to his favorite tree branch and watched as his students mingled. He couldn't distinguish any of the tells for poor sleep. The blonde chatted a bit with the Pinkette when she wasn't talking at the Uchiha, and after he finished rereading his favorite chapter, Kakashi jumped down to join them. After brief salutations and after paying a short oral homage to his late best friend, Kakashi set them to work.

The first thing he did was run them through the academy team formations. After that he showed them the basic usage of a standard short-range radio. He wouldn't have them drill with it for another day or so when they had the team formations down, but Minato-sensei had once told him that repetition in reviewing information was similar to repetitive work outs in that it would ingrain the information into the learner. Kakashi had never experienced difficulty in remembering anything, but he didn't want to risk the replacement fees for damaged materials with fresh genin. He had to constantly remind himself to treat Naruto equitably, and somehow Kakashi got the impression that the blonde picked up on this.

Naruto was predictably slower on the uptake, but ended up being the one to push Sasuke and Sakura when Kakashi transitioned to physical exercises. Sasuke and Sakura both had excellent taijutsu form, and Naruto was receiving extra help catching up, so Kakashi focused on stamina and flexibility.

They broke for an hour lunch at noon, then met up outside the Hokage Tower for their first mission as a team. Kakashi took devilish pleasure in watching their disappointment in receiving a D-rank gardening mission. They had absolutely no idea just how many of these they had to look forward to. He noticed a melancholy look about the Third when Naruto failed to voice his protests as loudly as it appeared he wanted to, but in the end they were dismissed with a chuckle.

The first thing that stuck out to Kakashi about this particular mission was the way the client reacted to Naruto's presence. Understandably, it wasn't very good, but fortunately for the jounin, the rookie of the year and the top kunoichi simply assumed Naruto had pranked the owner and gave him an earful while Kakashi straightened out the client. The elder man spent the afternoon hovering over Naruto's back snapping at each wrong move. The other two genin snickered, but by the end of the gardening, Naruto's weeding technique had seen marked improvement compared to theirs.

They returned to Hokage Tower and made their way to the mission room. As Kakashi had suspected, the Sandaime had spent the day sitting in so he could hear all the first-mission stories of this year's genin. Naruto immediately ran up to him and began complaining, which lead to the Ushiha and his follower braking rank as well to add in their two cents on how the mission went.

"Naruto…" Kakashi began, "this is an oral mission report, _not _a casual meeting. When shinobi give oral reports they must stand at attention in a line and give an objective breakdown of the mission." Naruto looked at him for a moment in confusion before scratching his head:

"But I _am _paying attention, Kakashi-sensei. And its not like there are any chairs for me to sit in anyway…" the blonde trailed off and Kakashi added shinobi protocol to the list of things to drill. A few of the chunin attending the mission desks sneered when they heard the orange-wearer's comment, and Kakashi was beginning to feel frustrated with the reactions _and its only day one, _he thought exasperatedly. It wasn't so much the sentiments of the onlookers that was getting to him, but missions would be a lot more of a pain if every client tried to replace his team, and after years in ANBU Kakashi didn't like the extra attention.

Once the report was made, Kakashi brought them back to the training grounds and explained the different types of reports and how to fill them out. It was mostly for the blonde's benefit, but no matter how smart the twelve-year-old, they still needed writing practice and instruction. A basic report by a kid would be praised, but give it a few years, and if they hadn't improved, a lot of hours would be spent re-writing and double checking reports the mission desk rejected.

The last thing on Kakashi's list of genin-related things to do was watch Naruto's training with the chinin Iruka and speak with the young instructor on the anticipated duration and extent of his assistance in Naruto's taijutsu training. So again Kakashi was jumping across the tops of buildings behind the oblivious neon-orange genin.

Naruto went to Iruka's straight from training, and the chunin took him to one of the training fields adjacent to the academy. They sat for a while on a bench just talking. Naruto told Iruka about how his mission went, this time quietly and in sad tones. "Do you think they'll all be like that?" Kakashi heard. Iruka seemed to think for a minute before responding.

"At first, I think it will. They don't trust you, and you haven't given them a reason to trust you yet. I know its hard, but if you keep at it, I think eventually people will see you for yourself," Iruka ruffled Naruto's hair and stood up to begin making his way to the center of the field. He didn't catch the dark look that fell over Naruto's face when he heard that last part, although Kakashi had a clear view. By the time the chunin turned around Naruto was bounding towards him with a large grin and an enthusiastic cry.

Kakashi watched Iruka drilling the blond in the basic forms, and after a little over an hour it looked like they were wrapping up. Kakashi flared his chakra and watched the chunin pause for a moment before telling Naruto to meet him at Ichiraku's Ramen to celebrate his first completed mission. Once the blonde was gone, Kakashi leapt into the field. He stood quietly for a moment as Iruka looked him over.

"What can I help you with today, Kakashi-san?" Iruka eventually asked.

Kakashi shifted so that all his weight was on his right leg and rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, well, I gave Naruto permission to study his taijutsu basics with you, but it would be a great help to me if I knew exactly what you planned on working on and about how long you expect you'll be training him." After hearing this, Iruka smiled broadly.

"I'm glad you've taken an interest in training him. Naruto's a good kid and has been through a lot lately. Truthfully, Naruto needs help with all the basics. My plan, with your approval of course, is to get him up to snuff on the basic academy katas. After that, I would like to work on his precision with kunai and shuriken. Hopefully that will open up mid-range combat to him in a pinch. Then I was planning on working the advanced academy katas and working on integrating kunai use into them." Iruka was silent for a moment before continuing, "in all honesty, Kakashi-san I would like to keep working with Naruto for as long as I am able. Once Naruto has a solid foundation with the basics, I would like to spar with him so he can get experience with someone outside his team and a little more advanced." After that Iruka seemed to trail off.

"You… really care for him don't you?" Kakashi asked solemnly, "I heard you know about him, and that you lost your parents to the Kyuubi, but despite that—"

"Naruto is Naruto," Iruka interrupted, "he's a little boy who has spent his entire life being treated like either a criminal or an explosive tag, and now that he knows the reasons why, if afraid of himself. Afraid, and hateful.

"Naruto is a good kid Kakashi-san. I don't know any other way to say this. If he is… the Kyuubi, simply with his memories sealed away, then I tremble to think what could have broken his spirit and turned the Kyuubi into such a destructive force. Naruto has faced years of being ostracized and tormented who knows how much without breaking. He is one of the most forgiving individuals I know. So either the Kyuubi no Youko has a lot more to it than we've ever expected, or Naruto's consciousness is completely separate.

"Either way, Naruto's life will be difficult and uncertain. No matter what he was, or what he may eventually return to being, right now he is Uzumaki Naruto."

That night, for the first time in many years, Kakashi trained until his knuckles bled.

* * *

**Published: 11/08/2013 **

**Words: 9,796**

**AN: After saying I intended to update regularly, this is really late. I would like to apologize. Between midterms and writers block it took me a long time to wade through this, and I can't say I am satisfied with the end result either, but if you enjoyed, please follow/favorite!**


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